The recognition that our political system is deeply flawed is not a new one for Liberal Democrats. However, in recent years we have been wary of talking only about electoral reform, acknowledging the risk of being pigeonholed as single-issue anoraks.

Although electoral reform remains an article of faith for us, voters have rightly wanted to talk about other pressing issues of concern. On the economic crisis, on climate change, on Trident, and on Afghanistan, the Liberal Democrats have risen to the challenge. Issues such as the cost of living, rising fuel bills, affordable housing, and army helicopters come up on the doorstep more often than proportional representation.

However, while there may not be fevered discussion about AV+, STV, or d'Hondt, there is an almost universal cry for political change from the voters I speak to. The view that two-party politics and a winner-takes-all electoral system are a fundamental part of the problem is at last becoming widespread.

All are outraged at the expenses scandal, and bemused by a political system which speaks no language they understand. Many despair that the 12 years of centralisation and control under Blair and Brown has betrayed their aspirations for reform and social justice and failed to address the issues they care about. Yet they see no realistic prospect of a Conservative government repairing a broken and discredited system.

Voters are disengaged and disillusioned by the one-party fiefdoms that deny meaningful representation to any alternative political views – particularly here in the north-east where 28 out of 30 MPs are Labour, at least until the general election. Equally, if the Tories form a government at the next election they are likely to do so with very few MPs from Scotland and the north.

Electoral reform would end this unequal distribution of democracy. It would deliver a new pluralism allowing a broadening of debate and a fertile environment for progressive reform. It would end the disproportionate power it gives to the leader of the majority party and would restore renewed legitimacy to parliament.

For the Liberal Democrats, this debate allows us to make the case to the electorate that reform has never been more needed than it is now. A new Great Reform Act is urgently needed to restore the health of our democracy. It is time to deliver fair voting to invigorate and empower those who are dispossessed by today's rotten system.

In the centre of Newcastle an elegant monument to Earl Grey commemorates the Reform Act of 1832, which swept away the rotten boroughs and gave political power to a newly enfranchised electorate. By today's standards it did not go nearly far enough, but it marked a turning point in British politics.

Erskine May, the authority on parliamentary procedure, wrote that the "reformed parliament was, unquestionably, more liberal and progressive in its policy than the parliaments of old; more vigorous and active; more susceptible to the influence of public opinion; and more secure in the confidence of the people".